The Merry Past 



Bad coachmen were well known along the road, and 

 subjected to much chaff. An indifferent driver having 

 brought his coach to the door of an inn, not in the 

 most coachmanlike manner, a knowing boy in the 

 street addressed him thus : " I say, Coachee, who 

 feeds the pigs when you be from home ? " 



The " White Hart," in Fetter Lane, was a great 

 resort of the best stage-coachmen, who used to in- 

 dulge in anecdote and song. A great favourite here 

 was Tom Simcock, driver and part proprietor of the 

 Lewes coach, who was well known for his singing of : 



Fortune's wheel goes round, round, round, 

 And round goes Fortune's wheel. 



Simcock's principal peculiarity was his dislike for 

 everything French, so much so that he was never 

 known to eat a French roll, and as for French beans, 

 he would not allow them a spot in his garden. The 

 military also were not favourites with him. On one 

 occasion on a journey from Lewes, Tom picked up some 

 redcoats, and on his arrival at the " Elephant and 

 Castle," being on the look-out after the luggage of an 

 inside passenger, the soldiers took advantage of the 

 bustle and confusion attendant on the arrival and 

 departure of the numerous vehicles of every descrip- 

 tion from the " second Babel," to take French leave, 

 and by bolting did him out of their fares. A brother 

 whip, known as " Tidy and Tight," an old pal of 

 Tommy's, whose domicile was not a hundred miles 

 from the British Museum, happened to pass at the 

 time, and noticed the move, but was unconscious of 



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